Winter in Boston? I Think I’d Rather Be in Provence

As Valentine’s Day approached last year, Kathy and I window-shopped in Aix-en-Provence, admiring the variety of heart collages, shoe arrangements and other creative if sometimes funky displays in the city’s abundant shop windows.

Oh, by Aix standards, Valentine’s fell in the midst of what had been a rather nasty stretch of weather. Lots of rain, enough for our French teachers to share a salty version of our “it’s raining cats and dogs.” (Only in French, it is: “Il pleut comme une vache qui pisse,” or “it’s raining like a pissing cow.”)

One morning, heaven forbid, we saw snow sprinkled on Mont St. Victoire in the distance from the street in front of Hotel Roi Rene.

But none of this was something a decent bottle of wine couldn’t cure or, better yet, a cozy dinner with classmates from our French school, IS-Aix. This winter, alas, I’m not sure a a liter of 90-proof grain alcohol could salve my soul, though it likely would kill me first.

Tonight, Boston is awaiting its fourth major storm in just three weeks. By the time all that snow is measured, we’ll have reached something near 90 inches of snow during that three-week time span. For those of you who think metric, that’s approaching 3 meters. And with hurricane-force gusts expected tonight we just have to hope the power stays on; wind-chills are expected to be so bad that they’d feel much more appropriate in the Yukon or atop the Aguille du Midi in Chamonix during a mid-winter storm.

All I can say is thank goodness for memories and the power of photography to trigger them. I don’t much care for winter anymore, and I don’t expect to be staying around during Boston’s when I retire in a year or two. For now, however, I’ll have to make do with memories of last year and dreams of summer, when Kathy and I will take our 7-year-old granddaughter Devon to Paris for her long anticipated ascent of the Eiffel Tower. (With a little luck, I’ll also be leading a group of students to Aix in May.)

For the present? …. Must I think of the present? … Well, it is Valentine’s Day so tonight perhaps, we’ll find a nice bottle of French chablis, snuggle by the fire — and hope the lights don’t go out.

As for shoveling, it can wait until tomorrow. I’m in no hurry to go outside.

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One Reply to “Winter in Boston? I Think I’d Rather Be in Provence”

Hi, we were one of the very few flights leaving Logan on Monday Feb 9 to West Palm Beach for long planned visit with friends. More employees, I am sure, than departing passengers. We drove up on Fri the 13th to GA for a few days with grandsons, while the current blizzard rages. We hope to return on Wed to greet our ice dammed house, which, Charlie reports, has had water forced down the bedroom walls. We’ll face the repair and a better solution once summer comes. Ellen and Frank

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I’ve never measured a successful trip by how many destinations I can circle on a map or check off a Bucket List. To me the best journey, and the best ravel, moves more like a good conversation. It ebbs and flows. It rarely rushes, but it’s also animated and unpredictable. It is filled with banter and laughter, and invites participants to linger rather than march forward inexorably like a tightly wound clock. Want to have dessert? A second glass of wine? A detour in a back-alley artisan’s shop? A pause at an overview by the side of the trail? Why not. Read more.